Sooty 01-04
Sooty (2001-2004) was a television program found on CITV from November 5th, 2001 through January 6th, 2004. It was hosted by Richard Cadell and Vicki Lee Taylor. It is the fourth incarnation of The Sooty Show. An uncoming film, Hotel Sooty: Regenerated, is scheduled for release in the near future. Season 1 Debutting on November 5th, 2001, with the episode All New Sooty, the cast consisted of Richard, Vicki, Sooty, Sweep, Soo (Voiced by Brenda Longman, Soo's longtime voice actor), Butch, Scampi, and an all new character, Miki. The puppets were slightly larger than they were on Sooty & Co and Sooty Heights. New episodes ran from November 5 to the 21st. They continued to run on syndication throughout the shows life cycle until 2007. After season one, the shows owner, Gullane Entertainment, was purchased by HIT Entertainment. Thus starting a reign of terror for the show. Seasons 2 & 3 Shortly after production of Season 1, major changes were made to the series. A new producer was hired to redesign the show into a more "modern" demographic. That meant the majority of the people who worked on the first season were let go from these later seasons. The puppets sported a more raggidy and tattered look (reminisant to the older Harry Corbett days) and the hotel was given a new paint job and facade. Soo's longtime voice actor was replaced and many of the season one puppeteers were replaced by new ones and took over as the voice actors for these later seasons. Starting off with Robo Richard, episodes ran from October 15th, 2002, through January 6th, 2004. According to Richard Cadell, the new producers have stripped off all traces of classic Sooty slapstick, making the show boring. He even said they wanted to get rid of the humans all together. In 2004, the show was listed for reruns only, with no new episodes being produced. In 2007, HIT Entertainment, the company behind the Sooty license, put up the rights for sale. They would remain in limbo until 2008, when the show's presenter, Richard Cadell, bought the rights for 1 million pounds. He continues to preserve the property, even making a new version of Sooty, debutting in 2011 on CITV. Aftermath The failure of the series caused CITV to pull the plug. Low ratings and dissatisfaction from the fans were the leading causes for the show's demise. Needless to say, HIT screwed everything up. They made an iconic character into a mess full of unfunny jokes and borderline violent slapstick, very unlike the Corbett days. The show tried so hard to appeal to a wider audience outside of the U.S., and failed on every corner. Watching this show is like watching a cringe compilation on YT. Fortunately, Richard Cadell has managed to fix everything with Sooty and learned from its mistakes. Now will that stop you from watching Sooty 01-04? I don't think so. See it for yourself. You'll see how godly it has become. Fun Facts about the show *The font used on the title cards on all the episodes is Comic Sans. *Many of the puppeteers from seasons 2 & 3 previously worked on other shows together, such as Beachcomber Bay and Wizadora. *The show was filmed in Maidstone Studios in Kent. *When the show ended, Cadell used some of the puppets as stunt doubles in the recent series of Sooty (2011) Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/jun/27/television https://sooty.fandom.com/wiki/Sooty_(television_series)#Series_1:_2001 Category:The Show Category:Season 2 Category:Season 3 Category:Season 1